Bets
by Avatarfan444
Summary: Toushiro and Karin are spending their last moment together before he leaves for Soul Society - HitsuKarin -


**Theme: Toushiro and Karin are spending their last moment together before he leaves for the Soul Society**

The sun was beginning to set, street lamps were turning on, parents were calling their children inside from playing, and joggers were jogging. Yep, it was just another normal day in Karakura, home of the largest amount of spiritual pressure in the World of The Living. Well, all was normal except for one short boy with white, gravity defying hair walking down the street. Some children stared at the boy, astonished by his odd hair style and color, as he walked passed them and down the street.

This white haired boy was none other than Hitsugaya Toushiro, taichou of Squad 10 and wielder of the most powerful ice zanpakuto in all of the Soul Society, Hyourinmaru, and he was heading to a small house owned by a small, kind elderly woman where he was going to meet her and a raven haired girl.

On the way there, he was grumbling under his beath. "D*mn Kurosaki being so overprotective." He was replaying in his head Kurosaki's little outburst, of course, when he went to the Kurosaki residence for Karin.

_Toushiro walked up the the front door of the Kurosaki residence and knocked on it. A few seconds later a brown haired girl opened the door with a smile on her face. "Hi, Hitsugaya-kun!" she replied cheerfully._

_"Konnichiwa, Kurosaki-san," he replied politely. "Is Karin ready to visit Grandma Haru?"_

_"I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-kun," Yuzu apologized, "but Karin already went. She says you were taking too long so she went ahead without you." It wasn't his fault that he was late. It was Yamamoto's for wanting him to write a report even when he was on vacation._

_"Thank you, Kurosaki-san," Toushiro said before turning around and leaving._

_Halfway pass the yard Ichigo's head popped out of a window. "You better not do anything to my sister you little midget! If I find out you did anything Imma bankai your a**!"_

_Toushiro turned his head around and glared right at the eigthteen year old. "Get those perverted thoughts out of your head, Kurosaki! She's only thirteen!"_

_"Aha," Ichigo pointed at the shinigami taichou, "so you're planning on doing something when she's older! Imma beat your a** into a bloody pulp you m- OW! What the hell ju hit me for, Rukia?"_

_"Do not talk Hitsugaya-taichou that way you impertinent baka!" Rukia yelled._

_"I'll talk however I want to talk to the midget, midget!" Ichigo yelled back earning another punch to the face. "Ow! Stop punching me!"_

_The two began to brake into a full blown argument, along with punches from Rukia, when Toushiro walked away, figuring Kurosaki wouldn't notice if he left._

It irritated Toushiro immensely how overprotective of Karin Ichigo was whenever he was around. It wasn't as if he was going to rape her, she was thirteen after all. Not that he would rape anyone at any age. Besides, he was friends with Karin and he would spend time with her if he wanted.

Friends. Toushiro was still getting used to being called that and to actually having one. Back in the Rukongai everyone had been too afraid to even aproach him so he couldn't make any friends there and he did not think befriending his subordinates would be a good idea since he wanted there to only be a professional relationship between them, although he was pretty sure even if he did try they too would be afraid of his "icey" personality. And even though Hinamori and Matsumoto were pretty close to him he considered them more like family members, Hinamori being the sweet older sister and Matsumoto being the loyal, protective mother. So for someone to not be afraid of him and actually befriend him was still a new experience for Toushiro.

Although, there were times he had actually felt like Karin might be more than just a _friend_ to him. She was always so different than most people and he liked that about her. She was smart, brave, and definately adventurous! She would always follow him whenever his soul pager went off and sometimes she'd kill the hollow before he had a chance to get out of his gigai. She was tough, her fighting skills were better than some of his subordinates (hand-to-hand combat of course), and she never cared about what people thought about her. Although she was tough it didn't mean she wasn't friendly or kind because she was. Whenever there was a child being bullied she'd go and rescue them by beating up the bullies and checking the victim for injuries, and if they had any took them back to the clinic.

He's only known her for three months, the month before the battle with Aizen and the two months that he had been visiting her now, but he could already tell someone so much about her as if he had known her his whole life.

He could still remember how there friendship began over one soccer game and a hollow attack. After that day, she followed him around trying to get him to play with them again or just hang out and calling him by his first name. Toushiro eventually grew tired of having to refuse all the time and ordering her to call him by his title and just caved into the requests. Also during that same month she had followed him to Grandma Haru's house and was introduced to the kind, elderly lady.

Toushiro was glad to hear from Rukia that even after he left the World of the Living Karin continued to visit Haru and would even bring some of her friends. He was very grateful to Karin for that because they knew how Grandma Haru's family members were all dead and that she kept so many dead souls in her house to cast away the feeling of loneliness, although it didn't work very well, so it was nice for her to have some live souls keep her company.

Toushiro had volunteered himself to go to Karakura one day a month to check the number of hollow attacks; one day because all the captains agreed they could just ask Kurosaki Ichigo whether or not the number of hollow attacks increased or decreased instead of staying for long. During those times Toushiro conversed with no one but Ichigo, and occasionally Rukia, but only about the hollow attacks. He always asked as soon as he could so he could have the rest of the day to check on Grandma Haru and, most of the time, Karin.

It wasn't stalking he was just checking on how she was doing. He knew that most of the time Karin knew he was there but went on with her day as if there weren't a small white haired boy flying up in the sky above her or standing on a street lamp. Although he would never admit it, it infuriated him how she just ignored him which she never would have done back when he, Matsumoto, and the other shinigami were stationed in Karakura during the war.

Two years later, Toushiro decided to use his vacation time at the same time Karin had hers from school, so in July he arrived in Karakura. Before he had set up any arrangements over where he would stay during his vacation he grabbed a gigai from Urahara Shoten and headed straight to where he felt her reiatsu-the soccer field where he had helped her team.

Toushiro remembered exactly how everything went.

_When Toushiro arrived at the soccer field he found Karin by herself juggling a soccer ball with her feet. During the two years he came to Karakura to check for hollow attacks, Toushiro never had the chance to look at Karin closely and see how much her appearance changed because of the distance he put between them when following her._

_Now that he was closer to her, Toushiro could see just how much Karin's appearance changed; she was a few inches taller, she kept part of her hair in a ponytail, and she was growing..., er, assets. Toushiro blushed slightly when he noticed himself staring at them. Tearing his eyes away from them, he looked back up at Karin's face. She still had that same look of boredom on her face but he could see the optimistic gleam in her dark grey eyes as clear as day. Altogether, she didn't seem so different from the eleven year old girl he helped win a soccer game and, for some reason, he was relieved about that._

_Even with the relief he was feeling he couldn't help but also feel anxious about how this "reunion" was going to turn out. Although, he wasn't sure why he was anxious. He walked up behind Karin and said, "Hey, Kurosaki."_

_She stopped juggling to turn her head around half way. When she saw it was Toushiro her eyes began to shine a dangerous look of anger (there goes the gleam). "Hey," Karin muttered and turned her attention back to the soccer ball in her feet, juggling it again._

_Toushiro saw the anger in her eyes but ignored it and instead began to confront her. "Why were you ignoring me?" Toushiro asked deciding not to beat around the bush._

_"What?" Karin said still juggling._

_"Why were you ignoring me whenever I came by?" Toushio elaborated growing slightly more angry._

_"Why was I ignoring you?" Karin repeated the anger in her voice clearly audible. "Why was _I_ ignoring _you_? You're really going to ask me such a duma** question?"_

_Toushiro, not trusting his mouth in case it said the wrong thing, just nodded. "Toushiro, you just left without saying goodbye!" Karin yelled, and elaborated before Toushiro asked what she meant. "When you and the other shinigami were still here before the war you all of a sudden just left! You didn't even tell me you were leaving or said goodbye!"_

_"But-" Toushiro tried to say but Karin continued._

_"I could have forgiven you easily for that if you had just come back to hang out but you didn't! After a month went by, I heard Rukia telling Ichigo in his room about how you'd be coming here once a month, and I thought we could have at least hung out but you always kept your distance! I remember the first four months when you were here you'd be behind me and whenever I tried to say hi you'd run before I could turn around!" Karin yelled, and Toushiro could hear some hurt behind the words. "I mean what the hell, Toushiro? What kind of friend does that?"_

_Toushiro listened carefully to everything she said and was surprised by how hurt and angry he sounded, but what really caught his attention was the last sentence. Before he could think about what he was doing Toushiro asked, "Friend?"_

_Karin's eyes turned softer but there was still anger inside them. "Yes, Toushiro, friend. Why else would I care about all this so much?"_

_Toushiro stayed silent and stared at Karin. She wanted him as a friend? The ice prince? No, she didn't _want _him as a friend, he _was _one of her friends. But why did he care so much? Why did this make him so elated? "Kurosaki..." Toushiro said, not really sure what he was going to say. "I'm... sorry," he apologized sounding both sincere and confused._

_Karin sighed. She looked like she was uncomfortable and happy at the same time. "Kurosaki?" Toushiro looked Karin right in the eye warily but she didn't move a muscle. "Call me Karin," she said firmly, then smiled. "Now, do you wanna play?"_

_They stayed there at the field playing until they were both exhausted, lying down on the grass, breathing heavily. Normally, something as easy as soccer wouldn't tire out Toushiro but playing against Karin now had left him sitting on his butt, his body refusing to let him stand, panting almost as hard since the last time he trained, but he was completely alright with it. He turned his head to look at Karin who was lying on her back, panting harder than he was, with a face flushed._

_"Tired already, Kuro- er, Karin?" Toushiro smirked._

_Karin scowled and bolted right up. "As if- wait... you just called me Karin," Karin stated but it came out sounding more like a question._

_Toushiro's smirk grew a little wider. "That is your name, isn't it?"_

_"Don't get smart with me, Toushiro," Karin smiled and playfully punched him on the arm._

_Sitting on the grass, they continued to talk for hours, and Toushiro told her how he was staying up until the last day of her summer vacation, until it was time for Karin to go home. Toushiro walked her all the way home, both walking together in a comfortable silence, they said their goodbyes at the door, and then for the rest of the night Toushiro just sauntered around Karakura Town with a small smile on his lips, not worrying about where he was going to stay for the night and just enjoyed being basked in the happiness that refused to leave him._

So deep in his thoughts, Toushiro didn't notice he had arrived at Grandma Haru's house until one of the dead souls said hello to him, which he responded back with a hello. Toushiro knocked on the door once then waited patiently for someone to open it. Before the door was opened by Grandma Haru he heard a female voice yell "he is not my boyfriend!". 'Karin,' Toushiro thought smirking a little.

"Hello there, Toushiro-chan. Come in, Karin-chan and the others are here already," Haru said stepping out of the way so Toushiro could walk in.

Toushiro held back the urge to groan as he entered. He had been hoping that it would be only Karin and him who visited Grandma Haru today so that he could just be with the two of them in his last few hours in the World of the Living.

"Hey, midget! What took you so long?" Karin asked ignoring her friends telling her she shouldn't have said that and Toushiro's glare.

"First off, Karin, I had a report to write, second, how am I a midget? I am two inches taller than you," Toushiro answered the smugness about his small growth spurt clear in his voice.

"Still short," Karin replied and smirked at ruining his moment.

"S-so what'd you have to write a report about?" Karin's friend with the afro asked, hoping it would calm down Toushiro. Toushiro didn't know his name or any of the other boys name, but he didn't try to remember either. "You're dad being a general in the army and all he probably made you write about what you did yesterday, huh?"

Oh, that's right. While Toushiro was in town for vacation he still had reports to write to the Soutaichou about hollow activity so one time when he was meeting Karin at the soccer field and arrived late his excuse was he was writing a report for the Soutachiou. Unfortunately for Toushiro, Karin's friends were behind him and asked why he would need to write a report, and before Toushiro could come up with a lie Karin told them that his father was a general in the army and that his dad was preparing Toushiro for when he'd have to join the army too because it was a family tradition. Well, Karin's friends bought that story completely.

"Uh, yeah sure," Toushiro replied. A sudden loud noise broke into the room then left five seconds later. Everyone in the room was silent. Then the sound came back again but, again, did not stay long.

"What was that?" Karin's friend with the glasses asked shaking. "I-is it a-a-a monster? Nee-chan told me monsters like to follow thirteen year old boys and eat them!" 'Do they believe anything they're told?' Toushiro thought sweatdropping. Then noise came again and the boy jumped behind one of the couches. "The monsters are coming! Save us Karin!" Now everyone in the room, except him and Grandma Haru, sweatdropped.

"Knock it off, Hachiro!" Karin commanded. "You know you shouldn't listen to your sister. She made you wear a dress once, for God's sake; you'd think you'd have learned your lesson by now!" Then the noise came again but louder.

"Toushiro-chan..." Grandma Haru said looking at Toushiro, who was keeping his head down. "Are you hungry?"

Every other person in the room turned to stare at Toushiro. When the noise came again they could visibly see his stomach moving. Toushio grumbled something incoherent.

"What was that?"

"Yes!" Toushiro muttered embarrassed, and his stomach decided that it was the perfect time to make its sound again. It's not his fault Orihime can't cook! The last time he tried was two years ago and he was food poisoned for a week! He couldn't even lift his hand to drink a cup of water!

Karin burst out in laughter, the boys snickered, because they were afraid Toushiro might kill them if they laughed, and Grandma Haru giggled. "I'll go prepare some snacks. Hachiro-chan, Kenji-chan, Ruyo-chan, Daisuke-chan, can you come help me make some?" Since it was scientfically impossible to say no to Grandma Haru the boys said yes. Turning to Karin and Toushiro, Haru said, "You two go wait out on the deck. Couples should have their alone time and the sky is beautiful tonight."

"We're not a couple!" Toushiro and Karin screamed in unison, but she already left along with the non-white haired boys. Toushiro sighed. 'She's never going to stop saying that, is she?' Toushiro thought already knowing the answer was no.

"Well, let's go," Karin said leading the way to the deck with Toushiro following behind her. When they stepped out onto the deck instead of sitting on it they stepped off it and onto the grass. Silently, they both lied down on their backs, Karin's head resting on her arms and Toushiro's arms spread out near his sides.

It was silent between them but it was a comfortable silence. The kind of silence only friends who knew each other deeply could feel and wouldn't bother to talk during it because they wouldn't need to to be happy. There was a soft breeze that night and Toushiro could see the trees and grass dancing along with the wind. Then up in the sky were stars - millions of them.

Toushiro stared at the stars in awe. For some reason there weren't any in the Soul Society. He wasn't sure if it was because the Soul Society might not be in space like World of the Living or for another reason, but what he was sure of was that the night sky was definately one of the things he was going to miss about the World of the Living.

Speaking of things he'd miss, Toushiro turned to his head to the side to look at Karin. She was staring up at the stars too but instead of the optimistic gleam in her eyes there was... it couldn't be... sadness? What would she be sad about?

"Karin," Toushiro called softly surprising himself because he had never spoken so softly before, not even when Matsumoto had her hangovers, and he guessed the softness must've surprised Karin too because when she turned to him her eyes were wide. Her wide, dark grey eyes looking at him. Toushiro gulped. 'That was a weird thought.' "Are you alright," he asked.

Karin put on a fake-smile. "Fine, why'd ya ask?"

"Karin," Toushiro said a bit more firmly.

Karin sighed. "Fine, I'm sad, okay?"

"I figured that out, but why?" Karin turned her eyes back to the sky and sighed again.

The silence between them at the moment wasn't as comfortable as the last and to Toushiro it felt like being under Yamamoto's reiastu when he uses bankai, although he couldn't imagine how it would feel he'd bet a thousand yen it felt like this! It cotinued on for about a minute before he answered. Karin murmured very quietly, but Toushiro heard it but what he heard made him think he heard wrong.

"What?" Toushiro asked bemused.

"Because you're leaving, d*mn it!" Kain almost yelled glaring at him for making her say something soft (although the last part wasn't that soft).

The uncomfortable silence enveloped them again but ended much sooner than the last because Toushiro began laughing. Wait laughing? Toushiro was laughing? "Toushiro, you're... laughing," Karin said too confused to think about whether or not he was laughing at her.

"Well, shouldn't I when you're being an idiot?" Toushiro asked amused.

"Don't laugh at me, Toushiro!" Karin did yell this time. "Just because you're a freaking taichou doesn't mean you can laugh at me for-" Toushiro cut her off before she could continue.

"I'm going to come back." Karin stared at him wide eyes. "I'm going to come back," he repeated slower, then he smiled. "I can't just leave my friend for another two years then expect them to immediately forgive me again, can I?"

Karin grinned. "I didn't forgive you immediately," she protested but didn't sound convincing because she was chuckling at the same time.

"Well, it didn't take too long to earn your forgiveness either," Toushiro chuckled.

Then they both stopped laughing all of a sudden. They heard whispering coming from the house. Toushiro tilted his head back expecting to see Grandma Haru giggling and the guys... well, he didn't know them well enough to know what they'd do but all he saw was half an afro, but he could see their shadows on the screen door.

"C'mon don't be a wuss!" one voice whispered. "You in or not?"

"Fine," a different voice whispered back to the first. "I bet ¥385.4000 ($5 U.S.) that they'll stay like that the rest of the night."

"That's such a wussy bet, Hachiro, but fine," the first voice whispered. "Alright let's recheck: Hachiro bets ¥385.4000 ($5 U.S.) that they'd stay like that the rest of the night, you bet ¥770.8000 ($10 U.S.) that Hitsugaya would make a move but Karin would reject him for, you bet ¥770.8000 ($10 U.S.) that Karin would make a move but Hitsugaya would reject her, I bet ¥1540.0000 ($20 U.S.) Karin'll cry over Hitsugaya after he leaves, and you bet ¥3850.0000 ($50 U.S.) that they'd end up kissing." Toushiro could hear someone, probably the one whispering, snickering. "Now we just watch and see what happens."

Though he wasn't showing it on the outside on the inside Toushiro was furious! How could they just bet on their friendship like that? Although, now Toushiro couldn't get the idea of kissing Karin out of his head and for some reason he... _liked_ the idea. 'Stop thinking that, Hitsugaya! Karin is your friend! You shouldn't think about doing tha-'

"Toushiro," Karin's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked at her. She wasn't looking at him and she looked hesitant about something. Before he could ask what was wrong, she leaned over him and kissed him on the lips. She was kissing him! Karin was kissing him! Kurosaki Karin was kissing Hitsugaya Toushiro and he loved the feeling! He could feel the butterflies in his stomach that people would always say happen at time like this! For a second Toushiro was surprised, his eyes were wide open, and he was as stiff as a board but when he felt Karin start to pull away he put his hand on the back of her head, pushed her down to him, and began kissing her back. Both their eyes opened but closed again after a second.

Inside his mind Toushiro was going wild and he swore he could hear Hyourinmaru purr. Can dragons even purr? 'Who cares!' Toushiro thought euphorically. 'I'm kissing Karin!'

Toushiro wanted to continue kissing but, unfortunately, he was running out of air and he could tell Karin was too so after a few more seconds their lips separated. While catching their breath, they noticed that now they were both sitting up with Karin on Toushiro's lap, her hands gripping Toushiro's shirt, and he had one hand behind her head and one on her back. They hadn't even noticed they moved. Both their faces were flushed from lack of air and the fact that they had just kissed each other.

They were both wearing large smiles on their face and they wouldn't make the eye contact. Toushiro looked her in the eyes but before he could think of what to say, Karin, still smiling, asked, "You promise to come back?"

Toushiro placed his forehead on hers. "I promise!" Toushiro promised his voice vehement. He wasn't sure whether or not he was friends or more with Karin but at the moment he really couldn't care less.

**Omake:**

"Aw, such a sweet couple," Grandma Haru commented, one hand on her cheek and the other was out in front of the boys. "Now, a deal's a deal."

Snapping the boys out of their shock, and for one of them their fake heart attack, the boys began to grumble and fish out their money from their pockets. After the boys gave Grandma Haru her winnings they stared back outside at their friend Karin, the tough, mushy stuff hating tomboy they've known for years, sit on Touhiro's lap with his forehead on hers. How mushy.

"Don't bet against your elders. People don't call us wise for nothing," Grandma Haru giggled, still watching Karin and Toushiro, while the boys, except for Hachiro who was writing down what Grandma Haru said on a notepad, stared at her.

* * *

><p><strong>So what'd cha think? This was my 1st kiss scene ever so please tell me what you thought of it! Review please! I'll give you an imaginary cookie if you do!<strong>


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